Prior conventional practice in molding a plurality of tubular articles such as golf club grips includes the use of a mold assembly in a vulcanizing press, the mold assembly including a mandrel frame between the mold plates in which the mandrels are removably mounted in opposite end bars of the frame. When the press is opened after curing, the whole mold assembly is pulled bodily onto a worktable and manually opened to expose the mandrels with the tubular grips molded thereon. The mandrels are then removed individually and mounted on a stripping rack and the grips are successively stripped from the mandrels by applying air pressure into the ends of the grips.
This practice is not only slow and laborious but substantial heat is lost from the mold parts during the mandrel removal and stripping operations, which heat must be replaced at the start of the next molding operation.